As I submitted,Deobandi minhaj (by this name) is a fairly recent phenomena in historical context,the umma had lived almost 1200 to 1300 years before Deoband...and inshaAllah shall keep living till the end...and the Ahadeeth mubaraka on the subject concerned are for all the times

In response to your question I would like to summarize the methodology of Shah Wali Ullah Rh mentioned in the Book Tarikh e Dawat o Azeemat Volume 5 of Shaykh Ali Mian Rh.

There are two extremes in regards to hadith and knowledge of Islam.

One group of people advocates that people should directly take rulings from Quran and hadith without the assistance of ulema and without gaining fiqhi understanding of the issues. (Maulana Ilyas Ghumman listen from 10:00 minutes to 13:45)

The second group uses hadith only to defend their madhab and belittle other madhabs.

Shah Wali Ullah Rh however, proposes a balanced approach. His advice for a common person is to trust and follow an alim as long as that alim doesn’t deviate from the correct path and if the follower finds out that the alim he followed has deviated then he must leave him immediately and find another one.

His advice for students of knowledge is that they must learn fiqhi rulings of all the four madhabs along with the sciences of Quran and hadith. Then they must connect the ahadith with the rulings of the four madhabs. Then they must choose rulings which are based upon sound ahadith even if those rulings go against the interpretation of the main madhab they are following. In short, ulema shouldn’t follow one madhab but should connect Quran and hadith with the rulings of all the four madhabs and then adopt those rulings which are based on sound evidence (within the boundaries of the four madhabs of course).

So this means that if we want to truly follow Quran and Hadith then we must first learn the deen for 40 or so years at least. Do 8 years of dars e nizami then become Mufti, then Shaykh ul Tafseer wal Hadith then connect Quran and Hadith with the rulings of four madhabs and do comparative study of the madhabs in the light of Quran and Hadith.

If it is not possible for us to do so then we must find ulema who have those four qualities which I mentioned earlier. Plus, genuine ulema can also make major mistakes so we must be well read about important Shari’ issues related to us and we must read scholars who have been assassinated in our lifetime because they were martyred for only one single reason i.e. they were a danger for this Jew World Order. We can’t leave taqleed but that taqleed should be senseful and not senseless. We mustn’t be emotional about personalities but should focus on concepts. We mustn’t restrict ourselves to ulema who are famous but we must try diligently to find ulema who may be unknown to masses but are brave enough to tell the truth. If an unknown alim gives a stronger evidence for his opinion compared to a famous alim then accept the opinion of that unknown alim (provided that he is truly an alim and not a fraudster). We mustn’t fall for oratory skills of an alim but must observe the way he provides evidences. If he deviates from the way of giants in scholarship and taqwa of this ummah who have proven themselves (by sacrificing all of their life and worldly possessions) in the name of hikmah then leave him. It is true that we need suhbah for tarbiyah but unfortunately very few ulema are alive whose suhbah can truly benefit. We must ask critical and important questions which are bothering us from ulema till we are satisfied. If one alim can’t satisfy us then search for the answer from another alim. One single person can’t know all the things. Also, only ask questions to relevant ulema of a particular field. You can’t ask rulings on jihad from a tablighi alim and vice versa. Make consistent dua from Allah for hidayah and make it a habit of reciting Surah Fatiha and first and last 10 ayaat of Kahaf very often. Study and reflect upon the Quran very deeply. Most of the questions will be answered by the Quran itself. Study Seerah and life of Sahaba RA and more questions will be answered and you will get an idea of how to implement the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. Also relate the teachings of Quran and Sunnah and life events of Prophet SAWS and Sahaba RA with todays times and try to visualize what the Prophet SAWS and Sahaba RA do in current times if they would have been present today based on the actions they did in their life. Human psychology and human problems remain almost the same even after 14 centuries.

Don’t just blindly trust on what ulema say but ask for their evidences for what they say even if it seems disrespectful. These times are so dodgy that now we can’t avoid this “disrespectfulness”. Read the muqaddammah of Sahih Muslim and you will find very valuable knowledge in that. If you can’t comprehend the evidences being provided then improve your skills of comprehension. It is my firm belief that if we try our best to learn the rulings of deen and even after trying our best we reach the wrong conclusion then Allah will pardon us seeing our ikhlas and effort.

I don’t know how to explain you this but I would say that if you polish your heart enough and then reflect on Quran, Seerah and Islamic History then you will get the answers to almost all of your questions.

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